Navigation

To navigate between pages, use the GoRouter.go method:

// navigate using the GoRouter
onTap: () => GoRouter.of(context).go('/page2')

go_router also provides a simplified means of navigation using Dart extension methods:

// navigate using the GoRouter more easily
onTap: () => context.go('/page2')

The simplified version maps directly to the more fully-specified version, so you can use either. If you're curious, the ability to just call context.go(...) and have magic happen is where the name of go_router came from.

If you'd like to navigate via the Link widget, that works, too:

Link(
  uri: Uri.parse('/page2'),
  builder: (context, followLink) => TextButton(
    onPressed: followLink,
    child: const Text('Go to page 2'),
  ),
),

If the Link widget is given a URL with a scheme, e.g. https://flutter.dev, then it will launch the link in a browser. Otherwise, it'll navigate to the link inside the app using the built-in navigation system.

You can also navigate to a named route.

Pushing pages#

In addition to the go method, go_router also provides a push method. Both go and push can be used to build up a stack of pages, but in different ways. The go method does this by turning a single location into any number of pages in a stack using sub-routes.

The push method is used to push a single page onto the stack of existing pages, which means that you can build up the stack programmatically instead of declaratively. When the push method matches an entire stack via sub-routes, it will take the top-most page from the stack and push that page onto the stack.

You can also push a named route.

Popping pages#

If you'd like to pop a page from the go_router stack, you can use the pop method.

Initial Location#

If you'd like to set an initial location for routing, you can set the initialLocation argument of the GoRouter constructor:

final _router = GoRouter(
  routes: ...,
  initialLocation: '/page2',
);

The value you provide to initialLocation will be ignored if your app is started using deep linking.

Current location#

If you want to know the current location, use the GoRouter.location property.

If you'd like to know when the current location changes, either because of manual navigation or a deep link or a pop due to the user pushing the Back button, the GoRouter is a ChangeNotifier, which means that you can call addListener to be notified when the location changes, either manually or via Flutter's builder widget for ChangeNotifier objects, the non-intuitively named AnimatedBuilder:

class RouterLocationView extends StatelessWidget {
  const RouterLocationView({Key? key}) : super(key: key);

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    final router = GoRouter.of(context);
    return AnimatedBuilder(
      animation: router,
      builder: (context, child) => Text(router.location),
    );
  }
}

Or, if you're using the provider package, it comes with built-in support for re-building a Widget when a ChangeNotifier changes with a type that is much more clearly suited for the purpose.